A 'Spice Boy' Lost in Manila

By

Manoj Aravindakshan

Updated March 10, 2000 12:39 a.m. ET

A n avowed lover of food blessed with a reasonably good appetite, I am a man of limited taste. Couple that with ignorance. When Meg Ryan burst out, "Caviar is not a garnish" in the movie "You've Got Mail," I had to seek recourse in my old faithful 20th Century Dictionary for enlightenment. Obviously, that renders me unqualified to write a commentary on cuisine, but I have been thinking a lot about food over the past one and half years, more out of necessity than by choice.